Yes I did I solved my problem. I found all of the parts needed for my turnout controls. Basically I needed a way to link my caboose ground throws to my turnouts. I found the wire at “Michaels” they call it “stem wire” as in flower stems. 20 ga. 18 inches long 30 pcs. pack for $2.13 with tax and I found the guide tubing at “Petland” in my local mall 3mm dia. polypropylene for $0.15 cents a foot.
This has solved my biggest problem to date so it’s “Full steam ahead” and to quote an old song “shovel on just a little more coal and when we reach the wide open mountain you can watch old 97 roll”.
Nice application of the KISS principle. Only question I have is, how thick is your roadbed plus subgrade?
Since mine runs less than an inch, your system would work for me. Folks with DEEP layers of foam might wnt to take a look at Colvinbackshop’s thread on the same subject.
In my case - some complex electricals dependent on point position - I use either toggle switches or slide switches for ground throws, and mount them at the fascia line.
3/8 plywood with 1/2 inch foam, N scale roadbed used under HO scale code 100 Atlas flex track. Also I’m using “O” scale Caboose ground throws (bought 12 years ago) so I’m letting the vertical section of the linkage act as a spring. The ground throws have 0.280 of movement while the turnouts have only 0.125 or less of movement.
Note: I bought 25 feet of polypropylene “Aquarium Airline Tubing” 3mm dia. ID today for $4.80 with tax at Petland.
Hi, the thickness of your roadbed sounds like it may be a bit of a problem if the wire you use is too thin. If you use thicker wire, the overthrow of the mechanism can overwhelm the actual turnout if you don’t put a Z-shaped kink in the wire before it travels into the tube. That’ll act as a shock absorber and protect the turnout.
I’ve used surface mounted tubing on my HO layout and modified Atlas HO 2-coil motors and am very happy with them. The actual driver can be anything you want, even O-scale throws as you want to use; (will they not be rather large and out-of-scale in HO?) Take a peek at an old thread called “Switchmaster versus Switch Tender turnout motors” where I posted some pics under my id: bigg or jlj30 where I was visiting. As noted, the brass tube will be buried in the ground cover and ballast, just below the track. My longest tube is ~14" long, and slightly bent so the magnet assy will fit under a building, yet still have the wire and tube at 90 degrees to both the turnout and the magnet assy.
I ordered the throws about 12 years ago and I believe that I ordered HO scale, anyway the packaging states that they are for both HO & O. But like you said they are rather big for HO scale. If I were to order them today I would go with N scale throws. Part of what I wanted was to be more involved in the switching as if I were the brakemen on the train. To me just to watch a HO scale train chase its own tail around in a circle would get boring very quickly.
I believe that 20ga. wire will have enough spring in it to take the strain but I will do some testing and may add the “Z” that you talked about.
